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Jan 27, 2011

Gross and Disgusting? Taco Bell Uses Vegan Meat as Food!

Okay so today I watched a news story where the anchorwoman turned up her nose, made the "icky face", and said "Ewww! Just listen to what Taco Bell is putting in their tacos"! Well, I expected to hear some really gross stuff. Story however is that Taco Bell is being sued for adding "meat extenders". Meat extenders, according to their site consisting of: Isolated Oats, Wheat, Soy Lecithin & Soybean Oil, Yeast, along with sugars and spices. Now, I'm wondering... What was the "OMG! I'm gonna barf!" statement all about???

Hum... What these ingredients are is basically Textured Vegetable Protein - TVP is just made of plants! Legumes and grain! What on earth makes this food so unappetizing compared to what's in the "beef" products that are consumed at Taco Bell and other places?

"The agency said that it planned to test milk from about 900 dairy farms that had repeatedly been caught sending cows to slaughter with illegal levels of drugs in their systems.

It said it would test for about two dozen antibiotics beyond the six that are typically tested for. The testing would also look for a painkiller and anti-inflammatory drug popular on dairy farms, called flunixin, which often shows up in the slaughterhouse testing".

Now... If this anchorwoman (or anyone else) is still not convinced that oats, soy and wheat aren't that "yucky" after all - This 34 page listing of FSIS approved chemicals in meat processing should alarm anyone. From ammonium hydroxide to xanthan gum, there are moisturizers, stabilizers, preservatives, coloring agents, gasses, antimicrobials, dyes and bleaches... Maybe a little dioxin too, but whose counting?

There's Sodium tripolyphosphate a sequestrant/anticoagulant for use in recovered livestock blood which is subsequently used in food products. And Polyglycerol ester added to fresh livestock blood during collection to eliminate foaming...

Now, a word to Taco Bell... If you could replace all the "beef" with 100% "TVP", I know for sure this one vegan would be delighted to return as a customer!

And the funniest thing of all is this - The cattle folks are worried this incident may shed a bad light on them... That people may distrust their industry all the more. But might they have a valid fear that lots of unknowing (Taco Bell), TVP eating folks find this food very acceptable after all!?!

8 comments:

I shared this on Facebook & Twitter. Since my brain is already exhausted from my morning readings about Animal Abuse & Exploitation I'm not capable of any profound or witty comments. Just wanted to thank you for this blog post.

Interestingly, a friend I was talking with tonight mentioned Taco Bell "beef" and I had no idea what he was referring to -- so he explained. I'm sending him this post. And if he sees my comment here, well, then, I say: "Hi, Tom! Thanks for reading Bea's blog!"

Here in Germany there are supposedly just over 100,000 vegans. I don't know how they came up with the statistic, but it is obviously a rough guess. Anyway, my husband has seen on TV twice in the past couple months variety shows that have done segments where they make a vegan dish and serve it and everyone LOVES it when they are told that it's 'meat'. Then they make it the exact same way and serve it as vegan and, yep - you guessed it, everyone says it is horrible. Clearly there is such a deep psychology and pervasive ingrained lies tied to what humans consider food that it actually controls (most of) our brains. Brainwashing at its most successful - and with the most devastating consequences. :(

After seeing this Taco Bell news, the first thing I thought was: I hope they don't lose this lawsuit because I don't want them actually filling their tacos with 100% beef - that would kill so many more cows :(

Hi Patty - No profound or witty comments required... Just that you know and care enough to act accordingly is very sufficient! Thanks for all you do!

Thanks Anonymous for spreading the word... Can we assume that Tom would prefer "vegan meat" tacos too? :)

Krissa, I've heard this scenario before. Usually the standards for meat items are somewhere about a "2". Ironically when given a plant based food, these people suddenly become "gourmands" and their expectations rise to the near impossible. They expect vegan food to be a near "10" - or they're not interested... This inconsistent comparison between the two makes it evident their unwillingness to be objective. It's frustrating. I hear you. Guess we have to hope for more stories like this one that will open their minds for further questioning. (?)

You have a good point Angie. It's like how I feel every time there's a recall. I'm very sad that even more animals will be killed to replace the "hazardous" meat. But then, I hope in the process even more people will be turned away from it altogether. Believe me, I understand completely living in two worlds: hope and despair. :/

Writing this blog in an attempt to show the unethical and absurd side of meat consumption and animal use. Expect sarcasm and brutal honesty. I can't help it if the truth about animal killing and meat eating is so vulgar and unnecessary...I'm just passing the information along.